Monday, April 21, 2003

Having made it through the first four chapters of the Beatles Anthology DVD set, I have come to understand at least two things: Ringo Starr, especially in the early days, was one fierce motherfucker on drums...there are several 1963-64 clips where he's hunched over, playing like his life depended on it, and conceding absolutely nothing to Keith Moon in the intensity department. Also, it's no wonder that things fell apart for them like it did...in the beginning they had clear-cut goals- to get on this show or play that club or gig; England, then America, then the world. After they had acheived everything there was to acheive for aspiring rock 'n' rollers, toppermost of the poppermost and all that, what else was there to do but get bored and want to go their own way? I used to speculate that if the Beatles had come along and had had the same kind of success in today's music environment (a dodgy proposition, I know), they might not have split because bands take so long between releases these days, and the Fabs would have been no exception. Perhaps if they had not maintained the yearly album grind even after they stopped touring, things that excacerbated the differences between them might have been smoothed over and worked out and the Beatles as an entity could have continued, like the Stones and others. Who the hell knows. But now I doubt it because they had nothing to prove except longevity, and they wanted none of that.

It's quite touching to see the survivors reunion feature on disc 5; they all seem to be getting along very well and the calm, beatific George in particular shines, making it even more poignant. Can't help but wish that John could have been represented better; oh, there are plenty of sound and video clips from previous interviews, but one wishes to hear his voice reflecting on the events with the perspective of 20 years' hindsight, like the other three. It just creates an odd disconnect of sorts to hear John opine in, say, 1971 when the other three's comments are more recent. Oh well, thanks to the evil bastard who shall go unnamed that's impossible, but it's just something that kinda jumped out at me.

Maybe I'll have more brainstorms when I watch the other three discs in their entirety...